The Freaks
by Mimi Dear
Summary: AU In the end, after all the fights and the yelling and the namecalling, they're all just a bunch of stupid punks.
1. Love ya

...Just a bunch of stupid PUNKS 

Hello! )

This fiction involves the characters Naruto, Tayuya, Shikamaru, Choji, Sasuke, Haku, and Kiba. There's nothing too awful in here; there's the mention that Haku's gay and some other light stuff about fighting and some... piercing talk. But nothing really, really bad.

Summary: In the end, after all the fights and the yelling and the name-calling, they're all just a bunch of stupid punks. See char. list inside.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't even own a car.

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Clacks, rumbles. Worn down white wheels of a skateboard glide and roar over cracked cement, bouncing and bobbing with the rolls and bumps and disruptions. There's a whole gang of them coming down the suburban neighborhood, riding the sidewalk smoother than a surfer on waves, slouching, lean frames dressed in plaid and black and orange and every grunge style that teens have owned and dominated for forever, and arms either crossed over their chest, hung limply at their sides, or held out beside them, feeling the cool air slip through their fingers like something cool and unnatural.

Their clothes flap with the breeze and pale shadows and blinding sunlight flash over them, the teens of all different hair colors and attitudes and styles and faces; the sun doesn't care who the hell you are, it'll burn you anyway.

They've all been called one nasty name after another, each and every one of them: Uzumaki Naruto; an idiotic dumbass, Choji; a fat loser, Shikamaru; a lazy dork, Kiba; a doglike monster, Oto Tayuya; a red-haired little freak,

Tayuya, or Little Tayuya, as her foster brother Jirobou calls her, has always been a loudmouthed tomboy in boy's clothes and a baseball hat. Most recently, an old ratty grey ski cap, with tuffs of white cloth for clouds sewn on with twine. She's been held up by her hair and punched in the face countless times. Lost a few teeth- gained a few black eyes, not to mention the countless scars up and down her arms, legs, and along her hairline and the callouses on her knuckles and knees. Those brown eyes know so much hate.

Haku, a shy young boy from the east side, saw his father murder his mother with a pistol in their living room, his eyes mild with his drunken stupor. When his mother's body hit the ragged dirt floor in their meger apartment, he screamed for her and laid hold of the gun his father carelessly placed on the table and killed him in a moment's glance. When the police came, the child sat with his mother's head in his lap, combing her hair and humming softly to himself, rocking back and forth with shivering breaths. Haku was sent through countless agencies and courtrooms and received counseling, where he spoke to the psychiatrist with whispers and broken sentences.

They've always called Sasuke goth. He started off good- the youngest in a small, wealthy family, a prodigy in his school, and an athlete. But things went horribly wrong. His elder brother became caught up in the world of his bored, rich friends, and indulged in a world of sex, drugs, and gangs. One night, after dosing himself too much, he went on a rampage and killed every family member that lived in the mansion in their expensive estate, excluding Sasuke, who ran for his life and hid in the basement, shaking and crying and clenching his fist so hard that his knuckles popped out of their sockets and the tendons twisted. Originally left handed, he was forced to relearn all his penmanship lessons with his right hand, and to this day, cannot hold a tight fist with that left hand without seizing up with pain.

He plunged into darkness. Dark clothes, dark music, the wrong friends. He now wore nothing but black, and adorned himself with spiked chokers and sharp bracelets. Studded belts, close-fitting black jeans with rips and cuts and decked with zippers, eyeliner and black lipstick. All of it. The more popular kids at his school singled him out- beat him up at recess and during gym. But when he began piercing his own ears and his own nose and ran three barbwire rings and studs through his own bottom lip and laced his pale forearms with safety pins, they left him alone, fearing the hazy red around his eyes and the deep purl he growled at him to leave him alone.

Choji was always the dumb fat kid. His mother doted on her precious only son, always sure to keep him happy and full and smiling. He was always a big kid, and always a very nice one, too. But people took advantage of him; a lying little brat cried and cried about how bullies had taken his lunch, and Choji felt pity for him and handed the child his spare change- which the kid spent on new yo-yos for himself and four friends. He spent every lunch and recess alone until fifth grade, when he met Naruto, who didn't have any friends either, and the two set to rounding up all the other solitary children at the school; including Shikamaru the artist, Kiba the wannabe rock star, Sasuke the goth, Haku the gay boy, and Tayuya the fighter.

A car honks at Kiba, and the driver, a mother, frowns at him and the large white mutt running after him barks harshly and snaps his jaws at the car, causing the woman the push the gas down and rush past the kids. They laugh at her stupidity.

Kiba grins and yells to Akamaru what a good job he did.

Just like all the others of his troupe, Kiba hasn't had the best life- his family has always had trouble with money, even though his mother is a veternarian, the place is discounted, and the Inuzuka family prides themselves on caring for animals before money. Any time some stupid kid taunted him for his torn, stained clothes, he would scream back at them about how at least his family had pride. That said, it was easy to see why the hot-tempered youth was often tossed into detention and almost expelled from school when he broke a bully's arm with his own bike.

It's in view now- they can see the park, lush and beautiful, and tinted with the oranges and reds and pinks of a setting sun. It's deserted now, save a few homeless people stil lingering by the picnic tables and barbeques.

A couple of them pull out a blanket, and a couple more pull out a backpack full of chips.

Seven kids plunk down, ripping open the chips and popping the lid off the two-liter jug of soda. The blanket isn't big enough for all of them to fit leisurely, so they squeeze together- Kiba snuggles up subtly to Tayuya, grinning widely when she notices him, and she shoves him off her with an accusing yell and some loud insults. Choji blushes and Naruto breaks out in loud laughter. Kiba nurses a now bruised arm and pays the bet he had with Naruto- Tayuya really does notice if you pull on her bra strap.

This goes on- eventually, everyone settles in together, arms and legs linking and crossing over each other, and it's almost as though the bodies are meshing together. Some hunch over their knees, others lay on their stomachs, and more are clinging to the person next to them, resting on their shoulders or leaning on their sides as though basking in their friendships. They all know that if one person moves, the whole alignment will be disrupted- so even though Sasuke's foot has fallen asleep, he stays still. Even Akamaru is nestled in with them, his head on Choji's knee and his body splayed out over several people's body parts.

"Hey. Look, up there!" says Choji suddenly, pointing up to the evening sky and tracing the line of a shooting star among the countless glimmering spots. Soft breaths and 'ooh's escape all of them. None of the group know what number shooting star this is that they've seen so far tonight, and none cares- because it's too beautiful to do anything than admire and accept.

Each has a different expression on their face; Tayuya is solemn and glassy-eyed, Shikamaru is bored but content, Naruto is so happy, and Choji is appreciative...

Haku glances to his right and sees Tayuya looking sadly up at the stars. Her red hair is tangled and spiky, cascading over her shoulders and across the smooth bridge of her nose. He notices how she's pinching the bit of skin beneath her bottom lip, where she's cackled to him that she wants a piercing.

Haku frowns- he doesn't like the way she doesn't seem as happy as the rest of them.

"Hey Tayuya!" he says, putting his head tenderly on the arm she has over her folded knees, and giving her a smile. "You look quite pretty in the moonlight. We all should go do more things in the nighttime."

Immediately, she is surprised, but her slender brows quickly lower themselves back over her brown eyes. She knows Haku is one of the few men she can trust- he isn't interested in getting anything from her. He may not be the most masculine of them all, or the sturdiest, but he is the most trustworthy and the best girl friend she never got to have, or ever wanted before.

She grins at him and grabs him by two long, perfectly tousled bands of hair across his eyes and he yells in play and falls on her, knocking her over in the process. They laugh, though Tayuya's is more a cackle, and that very realization makes Haku laugh even more.

She doesn't even bother to pull down the hem of her short-sleeved hoodie, letting the fabric wrinkle and expose a touch of her firm stomach and the edges of her green underwear, sticking up very slightly from her loose cargo pants. She's here with her friends- she could come with them to the movies in a fishnet frog costume and they'd wrap their arms around her shoulder and noogie her for her skankyness.

But then Naruto reaches over and pokes her exposed skin, causing her to lurch in surprise. He breaks out laughing, for the twentieth time today, and Tayuya pounds him in the kidneys, and he falls backward onto the grass beside her, groaning and begging for mercy.

"A- AH, Ta, wha- Stop! OUCH!" he yelps, curling and twisting in trying to avoid her calloused fists, and when she finally stops, he gasps in relief. After a few moments of silence, where everyone keeps watching the sky or softly speaking to one another, Haku sits up, his arms behind him and fingertips facing away, and leaned on them in thought, bumping shoulders with Tayuya in a comforting fashion. Naruto, too, sits up, his right hand still clutching his stomach, and suddenly wraps an arm around Tayuya's shoulders, knocking her head with his in his very own way of affection.

"I hate you too, you stupid little punk." he says quietly, and with a meek, white-toothed grin, knowing this is the only way she knows how to say that they're best friends and that she loves him back.

She watches three shooting stars fall in three different directions, each beautiful and fantastic in their own respect, and different from each other in the strangest ways. "I'm damn glad to hear it, you stupid wuss." she says softly, and Naruto would be kidding himself if he said he didn't see a strange glimmer of tears in her eyes, though only for a moment. He smirks to himself at this.

Shikamaru glances over to the three of them, currently caught up in a separate world reserved only for them, and very subtly, coughs and offers them some chips from a very empty bag.

Seconds later, Choji has tackled Naruto, wrestling the last chip from his grasp, Tayuya is roaring at Kiba for snapping her bra strap yet again, Haku is hiding behind Tayuya, Shikamaru is holding back Akamaru, and Sasuke has decided that he doesn't want any one of them to pull out his new stud with their roughhousing.

They're all just a bunch of stupid punks.

But they're a lot happier than the people who just blend in.

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Uhm. Well, I hope you liked it.

Thanks for reading:)

And feedback would be only be the best thing EVER. So please do review! I'll probably review you back, or maybe just sing never-ending praise. XD


	2. Happy Birthday

Naruto pounded on Shikamaru's apartment door, impatiently rapping his knuckles against it and ramming the door with his foot. Somebody yelled at him from inside that it was open, and Naruto waltzed in, hands stuffed in his pockets, and leaned against the nearest wall.

Shikamaru's place was always a mess; not because his parents were slobs (in fact, only one of them was), but because his mother never had enough time for to clean up the messes he and his father left behind. In fact, Naruto noticed a good forty dishes set out to dry on racks beside the kitchen sink, and piles of laundry folded and awaiting a chance to be placed into dressers.

Shikamaru was currently rooting one of these neatly folded laundry piles, sending clothes flying onto the kitchen floor behind him, in need of a good sweeping, apparently desperate in his search for something.

"Dang, Shikamaru!" exclaimed Naruto, walking over to where his friend was, and looking over the discarded clothes, still warm from the dryer. "You're lucky your mom's at the grocery store, man. She's gonna kill you when we get home tonight."

Shikamaru grunted at him, but suddenly let a rare, wiseguy grin slid over his face as he produced a pair of jeans from the laundry basket.

Naruto surveyed the jeans with light curiousity; the knees had huge rips, and other parts of the jeans were threadbare and faded. They were dark, nonstretch denim, and judging by their size and length, clung close to Shikamaru's slim, lanky frame, but dragged on the ground in a sloppy manner. Naruto could honestly say he hadn't seen a sadder pair of jeans in his life.

Pulling them on over the pair of checkered boxers he was wearing, and nabbing an already-packed bag nearby, Shikamaru grabbed his black hightops off of the kitchen counter and pulled them on quickly, not bothering to tie the laces, and grabbed his keys from their hook beside the door, pulling Naruto out behind him.

"Jeez, man. You must be really excited about this." grinned Naruto, as both boys wandered out of the tall apartment complex and ran to catch a bus that had just pulled up. Shikamaru dropped his coins into the slot, paying for Naruto as well, and sent his blonde friend another sly smile as they took standing spots, hanging to grimy poles in the center lane of the crowded bus.

"I'm rushing because we're three hours late." said Shikamaru.

-  
Sasuke glanced to the Emily the Strange watch latched around his wrist, and sent a death glare to the nearby umbrellas on the rooftop, grimacing when the wind shifted them again and disrupted the shade he had been enjoying.

"Stupid retarded idiots." he grumbled beneath his breath, refering to Shikamaru and Naruto, and adjusting his black hoodie so no sun could touch his face. Sunglasses hid his eyes, and he was dressed in long sleeves and pants. Haku sent him a strange look, arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't want to get skin cancer." the black-haired boy grumbled, turning the slightest pink in the cheeks and looking in the other direction.

"But it's ninety degrees out here. You're going to cook your insides." giggled Haku, trying to hide his laughter behind his delicately painted blue nails.

Sasuke said nothing, but scuffed his sneakers against the gravely rooftop, quietly looking over the view of humble downtown and it's rougher points; like the homeless shelter and some of the emptier, lower quality stores by the bus station. He had been to the homeless shelter many times... his numerous foster parents had tendencies to be anything but caring and dependable. He had met many interesting people at the bus stop, as well.

The soft chattering of the others, Tayuya, Choji, and Kiba, was barely audible to him, and it was easy to slip into thought.

Suddenly, the door to the rooftop squeaked and all heads turned to see Naruto and Shikamaru come running up the stairs, grinning widely when they saw what the others had prepared.

On the second story of the east side building, which housed the music store Tayuya's adoptive father owned, three large umbrellas were arraigned to provide shade from the heavy, noontime sun, a table and several plastic chairs assembled beneath them. A folding table was placed nearby, several gifts wrapped in styles varying from striped wrapping paper to brown grocery bags, were stacked on top, each one labeled with the name of the gift giver and Rock Lee's.

Who just came marching up to the rooftop.

"Hey guys!" he called, waving to Naruto and Shikamaru as he hopped up the steps of the inside stairwell, the two other boys still perched in the doorway. The blonde and Shikamaru exchanged glances.

Immediately, Naruto yelled out a greeting to Rock Lee and came down a few steps to him, laughing and talking about random subjects. Shikamaru gave the others on the rooftop suggestive glances and motioned that the boy with the bowl cut was here.

Kiba, Choji, Haku, Sasuke and Tayuya went running and hid behind chairs, tables, and the occaisional air conditioner placed on the roof.

Obviously put off by Naruto's nervous laughing and stuttering, Rock Lee pushed up to the rooftop, looking over the things placed there with confusion. "W- Where is everyone?" he asked, brows creased in worry. Naruto had called and told him how they were going to have a picnic lunch on the rooftop of the music store; but where... where was everyone?

Shikamaru shrugged as though he didn't care. "We were gonna have a surprise party for you. But you were late, and everybody left after the first half hour or so." he said, voice pleasingly deep and sarcastic, just like always.

Naruto almost died when he saw how seriously Rock Lee took Shikamaru's comment. Rock Lee's lips parted in a sad attempt to look for words. His eyes became glassy for a second, before he squinted them together as he forced a laugh. "Aa-ah. I get it. It is a Saturday, everybody only has a couple hours to spare anyways." he said, scratching the back of his head and trying his best to smile.

"Argh, you bastard!" roared Tayuya, bouncing up from her crouched position behind the presents table, and stalked over to Rock Lee, punching him harshly in the gut. He let out a yelp of surprise and fear, and then pain, clutching his stomach.

"What was that for?" he wheezed, groaning and pretending to be more hurt than he actually was, so that Tayuya wouldn't have to punch him again for improved emphasis.

"You made her feel guilty, idiot. DUH." smirked Sasuke, relighting an old cigarette retrieved from the depths of his pockets, and holding it to his lips, letting out an annoyed groan when some of his black lipstick rubbed off onto his sin stick.

"Happy birthday." chimed Haku and Choji meekly, both wearing coned birthday hats, and Haku waving a small flag advertising good wishes for the new year. Rock Lee, still squinting and holding his stomach, looked over to them, and began to forget his pain, grinning widely.

Tayuya ranted on about how annoying Rock Lee is, and how pissed off she was now, her arms flailing about and a nearby potted plant nearly being smashed by one of her hard fists. Haku began giggling again, wrapping his arm around Tayuya's neck and trying to soothe her.  
It was all too much; Rock Lee broke out laughing, one palm pressed against his forehead, the other rested on his hips, and just laughed and laughed. The last time his family had money for a birthday party for him, he had been five years old.

"Aah! You guys. This... this means so much to me!" cried Rock Lee passionately, doing a strange mix of a jump and a spasm and yelling excitedly.

Tayuya dryly noted this to be a "damn Kodak moment", and began chewing at the tips of her rough nails, when the funniest thing happened.

Kiba grabbed a handful of cake and squished it into Rock Lee's face.

The black-haired boy stared at Kiba strangely for a moment, seemingly confused and obviously surprised. His thick brows suddenly arched themselves, his lips parting just a sliver, and he let out a roaring holler.

"YOSH! Kiba! I will never forgive you for this!" he shouted, pointing to the sky dramatically and springing on the foxy, brown-haird youth, tackling him to the ground and pounding him. Naruto let out whoops, egging on Rock Lee, before jumping in himself, shedding his orange jacket and his face squinting as he laughed.

Tayuya let out an annoyed shriek.

"Remind me to never hang out with you guys. Ever AGAIN!"


End file.
